1. Technical Field
This invention relates to electrical devices, and more particularly, to an electrical device in a break away base for a pole that contains or supports a second electrical device.
2. Description of Related Art
Most if not all of the states and municipalities in the continental United States have poles such as light poles, sign post, or traffic signal poles that contain or support an electrical device. Often, the poles are equipped with a base that is intended to break-away when impacted by an errant vehicle. The breakaway base reduces the severity of the accident by reducing the errant vehicle's maximum change in momentum and allows the errant vehicle to continue on its path instead of being brought to a sudden stop.
Within the break-way base there is typically a pull apart wire disconnect wherein during a collision the wires are disconnected by a wire pull apart style disconnect device that depends on the wire terminal strength to pull the wires apart. The pulling apart of the wires turns off power or otherwise stops the flow of electricity to the wires going up to the electrical device attached to the pole. Unfortunately, often the wires have an extended length prior to and after they are pulled apart and once the wires are pulled apart, power is not removed from the wiring at the pole's foundation or foundation side of the disconnect. If the hot end of the wiring extending from the foundation side were to get wet, nicked, or snagged by the errant vehicle, there could be an immediate danger of electric shock or fire.
What is needed is a system or method that does not depend on the wire terminal strength to pull the wires apart, does not have an extended length prior to and after pulling the wires apart, and reduces or eliminates the likelihood that the wiring at the pole's foundation could become energized and cause an immediate danger of electrical shock or fire. It would also be beneficial if the system or method could be relatively easily activated or triggered by an authorized user to stop the flow of electricity to the pole during maintenance yet enable power to be restored to the pole in a relatively quick, cost efficient manner once the maintenance was completed.